Bman's Blues Report

The "original Blues Brothers " bring their Windy City blues stylings to NYC on this vintage 1978 concert album! Performing a set of standards, fan favorites and heavily improvised jams, these recordings drip with smoky atmosphere, emotion-packed antics and extremely cool vibes! The legend of the Wells-Guy blues era continues to grow - and this incredible concert album will surely add to the power of that rich legacy! 🎵 LISTEN & SUPPORT THE ALBUM ▶ Listen to Album Samples (Click to Expand) Add this Record to Your Collection Available in Heavyweight Vinyl, CD, and Digital Formats. 🛒 Buy Album on Amazon Store As an Amazon Associate, Bman earns from qualifying purchases. < The Deep Dive Can't tell you how excited I am to get this new live release from Jr. Wells and Budddy Guy .   Recorded Live in NYC the release opens with C...

  I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues Legend , by Junior Wells , and it's terrific. This is a compilation of vintage singles from the 50's and 60's and includes the entire gamut. Opening with Cut That Out , Junior Wells trademark harp sound is front and center with his vocal, joined by Johnny Jones on piano, Louis Myers on guitar, Dave Myers on bass and Odie Payne on drums. Excellent! Well's most notable track, Hodo Man (HooDoo Man) is on deck with Wells paired with Elmore James on his infamous slide guitar. Early In the Morning features the great Otis Spann on piano pushing Wells to the limit with Muddy Waters on guitar, Willie Dixon on bass  and Odie Payne on drums... What a lineup! On Lawdy! Lawdy! Wells harp seems to float on air, Spann on piano is excellent and of course the entire band really rocks. Syl Johnson adds guitar flair to Two Headed Woman over an active bass line by Dave Myers.  Slow blues, I Could Cry is a really gre...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues Brothers by Junior Wells and featuring many contemporary blues players. Opening with low slung, Blues Hit Big Town , Colin James weighs in on lead guitar with Wells on Harp. Good Morning Little School Girl lines up Pat Travers on guitar and James Montgomery on harp. I really like Montgomery's work and his interweaving with Travers on this track is tight. One of Well's most loved classics, Messin' With the Kid gets a rework with Tyler Bryant on guitar and his open tone with just the right amount of reverb works really nicely. Baby, Scratch My Back features Albert Castiglia and I always like his style. He doesn't overplay but his notes all count. Very nice. Eric Gales is featured on Lovey Dovey, Lovey One and his confident attack on this shuffle really works nicely. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Snatch It Back And Hold It, featuring Joe Louis Walker. His guitar work is fluid and fleet...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues For A King , from BB King's daughter, Shirley King and it's jam packed with blues and legends. Opening with Joe Louis Walker's All Of My Lovin' , King is up front on lead vocal backed by Walker on guitar and Jurgen Engler on guitar, bass and drums. Holding firm on a R&B setup, King sets a straight 60's styling radio track. With super guitar work by Elvin Bishop under King's bluesy vocals, I Did You Wrong has a cool shuffle beat and a tight bottom. An unexpected rock gem, Steve Winwood's Can't Find My Way Home features Martin Barre with some excellent guitar and is one of my favorites and also possibly King's best vocal effort on the release. Gallow Pole maintains it's folk roots but with a rock edge and underlying guitar work by Harvey Mandel with really is a strong compliment. A rework of a Jr Wells track features vocal and harp by Wells, adding guitar by Walker, ba...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent 2 cd release, Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969 from Third Man Records and it's terrific! Opening with Dirty Mother For You , a classic by Roosevelt Sykes, this classic track really gets the ball rolling with his suggestive language and his classic piano style. JB Hutto and his Hawk do a terrific Too Much Alcohol with Hutto's dynamic slide work. An excellent contribution by Jimmy Dawkins, I Wonder Why shows exactly why his nickname was Fast Fingers. Luther Allison and the Blue Nebulae play a super log take on Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy and really gives his guitar a workout... makes you sweat just listening to it. Excellent! Another really fat guitar laden track is Otis Rush and So Many Roads . This is an excellent closer for disc one. Disc 2 opens with Muddy Waters and Long Distance Call . Muddy's vocals are super and he has that crying slide work, backed by Paul Oscher on harp. Very nice. Charlie Musselwhite re...

Blues Legend Junior Wells “Box of Blues” 6CD Set To Be Released By Cleopatra Blues Includes vintage studio recordings from 1953 to 1979 of Wells' best loved tracks PLUS never before released live material from 1983 to 1997! Los Angeles -  Cleopatra Blues is releasing a gorgeous 6CD box set celebrating a true blues legend, the “Sexy Bitch” himself, Junior Wells! The release includes vintage studio recordings from 1953 to 1979 of Wells' best loved tracks such as “Messin' With The Kid,” “She's A Sweet One,” “Little By Little” and more PLUS never before released live material from 1983 to 1997! Packaged in a custom made, genuine wood cigar box with 48-page booklet of extensive liner notes by music journalist Dave Thompson and rare photos plus a mini harmonica that really works! Track List: DISC 1: Stylin' & Profilin' 1. Lovey Dovey Lovey One 2. Little By Little 3. Come On In This House 4. Messin’ With The ...

Los Angeles - The estate of Blues Harp Legend Junior Wells has been entrusted to L.A. based record label Cleopatra Records in a newly announced arrangement.   The deal was made between Cleopatra owner Brian Perera, represented by the law offices of Evan S. Cohen, and executor Martin Salzman, on behalf of Junior Wells’ daughter Regina Brown and includes sound recordings as well as publishing from Wells’ wide ranging catalog between his first recordings in the 1950s until his death in 1998.   In addition to the sound recordings and publishing which includes unreleased masters, Cleopatra also purchased a variety of personal artifacts from the Blues legend, including his harmonicas, performance outfits, hats, canes, notes, photos and  personal  journals. “We’re very excited to enter into this deal and be a part of the one of the all time icons in American Blues history, “ said Perera.  “We intend to keep the Junior Wells legacy alive with a var...

I just received the newest release, Southside Blues Jam , by Junior Wells and it's great! This is another in a series of reissues from Delmark with in this case 6 additional tracks. This release was recorded in December '69-January '70 at Theresa's Blues Bar and one could only have wished to be at one of these shows! Opening with Sonny Boy Williamson's Stop Breaking Down , Spann hits the first key and Wells unleashes that monster voice. It's really great to hear this band featuring the kings of Chicago blues (Wells, Guy, Myers, Spann, Earnest Johnson and Fred Bellow). Wells has such control and composure with Spann who is one of my personal favorites. Excellent! I Could Have Had Religion is up next and Spann is right there! This track comes and goes so quickly but Spann in crystal clear and Wells has the blues in the palm of his hand. Willie Dixon's Just Make Love To Me (I Just Wanna Make Love To You) is right down in the groove and Spann is stellar. W...

Ian Andrew Robert Stewart (18 July 1938 – 12 December 1985) was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was dismissed from the line-up in May 1963 but he remained as road manager and pianist. Born at Kirklatch Farm, Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife, Scotland, and raised in Sutton, Surrey, Stewart (often called Stu) started playing piano when he was six. He took up the banjo and played with amateur groups on both instruments. Stewart, who loved rhythm & blues, boogie-woogie, blues and big-band jazz, was first to respond to Brian Jones's advertisement in Jazz News of 2 May 1962 seeking musicians to form a rhythm & blues group. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards joined in June, and the group, with Dick Taylor on bass and Mick Avory on drums, played their first gig under the name The Rollin' Stones at the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962. Richards described meeting Stewart thus: "He used to play boogie-woogie pi...

Junior Wells (December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998), born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist. Wells, who was best known for his performances and recordings with Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker, and Buddy Guy, also performed with Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison Junior Wells was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas, though other sources report that his birth was in West Memphis. Initially taught by his cousin, Junior Parker, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, Wells learned how to play the harmonica by the age of seven with surprising skill. He moved to Chicago in 1948 with his mother after her divorce and began sitting in with local musicians at house parties and taverns. Wild and rebellious but needing an outlet for his talents, he began performing with The Aces (guitarist brothers Dave and Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below) and developed a more modern amplified har...

Junior Wells (December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998), born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist. Wells, who was best known for his performances and recordings with Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker, and Buddy Guy, also performed with Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison Junior Wells was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas, though other sources report that his birth was in West Memphis. Initially taught by his cousin, Junior Parker, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, Wells learned how to play the harmonica by the age of seven with surprising skill. He moved to Chicago in 1948 with his mother after her divorce and began sitting in with local musicians at house parties and taverns. Wild and rebellious but needing an outlet for his talents, he began performing with The Aces (guitarist brothers Dave and Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below) and developed a more modern amplified harm...

They have finally done it!! Delmark has released Hoodoo Man Blues which is considered by most blues aficionados to be one of the best blues recordings of all time. Now I know if you're like me you already have the original vinyl but this is that and much more. This release has an additional 14 tracks and really puts you into the studio. Recorded in 1965 it was the first studio recording to capture a working Chicago blues band doing their stage show without time constraints of the "singles" market. I mean the holy grail...Buddy Guy and Junior Wells in original form with Jack Myers on Bass and Billy Warren on Drums!! This new digipak re-issue contains 17 performances including 3 alternate takes and 4 never before released performances. There is one completely unissued song, " I Ain't Stranded", in which Buddy playing through a Leslie speaker has influenced guitarists through the time and still today! Also included is a 16 page booklet containing eight never ...